Hear Me Roar

I recently became aware of an annual women's conference and was reading some of the material on it's website. I came across a pamphlet for a biblical womanhood study and was skimming through it. One of the weeks is titled: Hear Me Roar. Of course it made me laugh, because in the household I grew up in, we always joked about the quote 'I am woman, hear me roar.' But then another thought hit me:

I don't want to roar. Yes, I want to stand up for myself, but the thought evoked when someone mentions a woman roaring is generally negative. I don't want to be that way. I want to be broken by God. I want to have a gentle spirit and quiet inward beauty. I want to be submissive, but not trampled on. I want to be the woman God intends me to be. If I have to roar, let me roar, but for the right reasons.

Not being sure of where that thought came from, I sat back in my chair and thought for a minute. All the jokes about women roaring, yes, they are negative. Sometimes we think women like to control things, and sometimes we think women just like to 'pull the woman card' on anything possible, whether it be for excuses or even just equality. But the thing is, we all like to be in control, and we all pull the gender card for equality or the right to do something. 'Hear Me Roar' isn't necessarily a bad thing in some situations. Just because we're women doesn't mean we should let ourselves be trampled on, we need to stick up for ourselves. BUT, we are called to be submissive, just as men are called to love and respect us just as we respect them. It runs full cicle. Truth is, that we lose our temper, get angry, say things we shouldn't, etc., but we're human. We're not expected to be perfect. By God's grace we can inch closer in that direction as we model our lives after His, but we're definitely not perfect. And we don't need to be, because He is.

'Hear Me Roar' may seem like it's a woman's motto, but there are factors in a womans mind that give her rights to roar: she is seen as the weaker gender, she feels trampled on or unloved or disrespected, , or people just aren't listening.. roaring might be her only way of communicating that people will hear her. Or, to be honest, some days she might be 'having a day' and not care. We all have those days when we're grumpy or just don't care.

But, I guess my main point is that women may roar, but we all do sometimes. Men feel the need to react when denied attention, love, and respect, just as women do. It's just funnier to hear about women roaring than men roaring.. that's where I think the funny little slogan came from =) As women, we just need to keep in mind that we are being transformed, and that a gentle spirit and quiet inward beauty (1 Peter 3:3-4) are worth much more in God's eyes than many of the things that irritate us or make us 'roar' here on earth.